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Canine ligament injury - has anyone had the surgery for their dog2007-11-25 3:00:18

We have a 90 lb Lab that was diagnosed after XRays with this injury. Would like any info on the surgery and rehab. Thanks.

Answers:

My dog had surgery for a torn ACL. Hers was torn badly, and the operation took 4 hours. She had a cast, but some vets do not do casts for this. After the cast came off she had to be kept on a leash for a few weeks, but was herself again after that. When she got very old there was a little arthritis on the surgery site, but not enough to slow her down.

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A client of mine had it done on her small dog on both sides.

It was a cruciate ligament tear and they did two surgerys to fix one on each side. It worked very well and with in a couple of weeks the dog was improved so much. She was back to going for walks again.

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A friend of mine just went through this. The dog is doing much better. He still limps a little after a lot of big activity. But is slowley getting better a little @ a time

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I had a friend who's dog had the surgery. The success rate is not as high as it is in humans, but it is still good. If you are willing to spend the time rehabbing and the quality of life will improve, I would say go for it. The biggest challenge will be keeping your dog quiet and inactive after the surgery while the repaired ligament heals. This is where most of the problems come from post-surgery. It's hard to explain to an otherwise active dog that is can't move around, jump, go up stairs, etc. As long as you are dilligent, though, you should have good luck.

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It seems common lately. Although our dog turned out to have some other condition that weakened her ligaments so that she got it on the other side too. She is a little better than before but not much.